A double bill to thrill tonight in the bestest of basements. Montreal’s No Joy are back in town after a long 8 year gap, but first up is local artist Crimewave.

There’s only one person on stage, sporting a red beret, literally a one-man Crimewave. I’m immediately struck by the trouser-flapping bass and the term that springs to mind is one David Stubbs penned in the Melody Maker back in the late 80s – Arsequake. Great concrete slabs of guitar, vocals all glassy with a touch of fx to ramp up the hysteria underpinned by whopping great old-skool breakbeats, bass bin bothering low end and snares that’ll give you a flat-top if you venture too close. I am reminded of Meat Beat Manifesto or early Nine Inch Nails when they were at that intersection between Industrial metal and Bomb Squad beats. This is a very good thing . There’s also that deft use of samples, noise and unexpected FX that recalls the post rock/illbient likes of Techno Animal or Disco Inferno and indeed the former’s Kevin Martin would be proud of the low frequency depth charge.

Not to say Crimewave are reheating the past, and indeed I’ve no idea if he has any of these reference points – the rhythm track is subjected to all sorts of 21st century glitches and knots as Crimewave alternates between slamming his guitar and misusing the sampler. He even lobs in a brief de/construction of Slowdive’s ‘When The Sun Hits’ to keep the shoegazers amused. Check out new track ‘Semaphore’ – I want to hear more of this and I’m looking forward to the debut Lp ‘Scenes’. Keep your ears alight for that one.

We can probably call No Joy shoegaze veterans by now. 15 years in and they have already had a 10th anniversary reissue of ‘Wait to Pleasure’ to celebrate, but more importantly have a new LP ‘Bugland’ to promote. Jasamine White-Gluz is the sole original member, and in spite of there being a long gap since she last performed in Manchester there is still an enthusiastic capacity crowd to welcome her back. It probably doesn’t hurt that shoegaze is no longer a slight, but a subculture in itself with a multi-generational appeal and many new artists like Deary, Nightswimming and Cruuush taking a cue from No Joy as much as My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive.

Accompanied by excellent guitarist Garland Hastings and rhythmic powerhouse Michael Farsky, they tear into a sparkling set which deftly mixes electronica, swooning synths, ethereal vocals and the all important sheets of exploding feedback guitars. The vocals threaten to get lost in the reverb and delay but once you adjust to the volume it sits just right. The set is 50/50 new to old but the crowd have done their homework, and tunes from ‘Bugland’ are welcomed as favourites already. As ever there is a shiny, pop edge to the songs and the mix of saturated noise and sweet harmony is ever-present. What more do you want?

They close with a good old fashioned lurching riff in the shape of of ‘E’ from ‘Wait to Pleasure’ that could have happily gone around a few more bars, and leave us wanting more. Go and catch them on this short tour if you can….